[PRP] Daffodilly dallyin' (Shiloh & Kaleb)

[Melancholies]

Shiloh had a mission today. He was showing his new plant-child-thing the wonders of the Otherworld, kinda like how a parent takes their kid to the local spring fair and it's super shitty but hell the kid things it's ******** Disney world. It hadn't been that long ago since Bean came into Shiloh and Jamie's life, and though Shiloh hadn't encountered any new ones, he still decided to dub the species as 'Sprouts', mostly because he was lacking in verbal creativity and he didn't like calling them 'things' or 'plant thingies' or whatever.

Bean was about three inches tall and growing rapidly, and it was so thrilled to be outside. Shiloh had be exceedingly cautious about a tiny magic thing in a world where magic was known and hated, so this was honestly the only viable work around. The sprout was nosing around in the grass enthusiastically, its tiny hands squabbling at the dirt. Suddenly it started to roll.

Shiloh waved his hand, causing a tiny little daisy to poof into existence. Bean went absolutely bonkers and started to investigate the flower. Shiloh actually aww'd, until Bean saw it fit to rip the flower from the ground and mangle it to death.

"Dude, what the ********?" The sprout seemed too preoccupied to react to Shiloh's inquiry, though.

Grey Dragon

u get to meet sprout son

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb was a little more attentive to his surroundings while in other Ashdown than the sprout was. Every time he found himself on the other side it felt more and more like an adventure, and not necessarily the bad kind. It was the same sort of anticipation he felt arriving at the library early in the morning on a day with no classes, no assignments, and endless leisure reading possibilities.

He was even staring to get to know his way around, and was on his way to a quiet place to maybe even practice some magical things when he heard Shiloh's expletive. Rounding the corner he saw his friend, but not who he might have been talking to. Or what.

"Shiloh, you're here!" He said as he approached, not wanting to startle the other youth.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh still jumped, head spinning around at the voice. A split second later he registered it being familiar, and a second after that his eyes were lighting up when he saw it to be Kaleb. "Hey! Sup!" He waved him over enthusiastically, legs stretching under him as he slowly stood up. "Sorry, I'm still not totally used to being approached here."

Behind him, Bean peeked curious out from behind Shiloh's leg, it's eyes wide and unblinking. The mangled flower was still clasped firmly in its hands.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

So much for not startling...

Kaleb wandered over with his usual shyness, even though they were friends he didn't want to intrude on whatever Shiloh had been doing on the ground over there. At least this time he could say he didn't need immediate rescue from a cold and rainy otherworld.

"What are you doing?" He asked, not noticing the tiny creature right away. That realization took another second. "Shiloh, you have a... thing. On your leg."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Thankfully, both of the questions Kaleb asked pertained to one another. Shiloh looked down at the Sprout by his leg, debated for a moment, and then finally reached down to scoop it into his hands. "I was showing this little guy the Otherworld. He showed up in my house a few weeks ago?" Bean was such a small... bean at the time. It was hard to believe it'd grown this much, but it was a plant thing so it made sense in a way.

Bean, in all its bashful glory, promptly tried to hide behind Shiloh's fingers. Like a tiny inquisitive kitten, it kept peeking out only to quickly hide again. Rather, attempt to hide, because Bean was very clearly visible in Shiloh's hand.

"So I was trying to figure out where the heck it came from. No luck though." He sighed, "Jamie named it though. Kaleb, meet Bean." The names in the Beaumont-Delacroix household were overwhelmingly creative.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb blinked at the little thing, a bright curiosity in his eyes. "Wow, it's really cute. I never thought things like this were in regular Ashdown."

Seeing it was a shy thing, Kaleb smiled and tried to avoid giving it too thorough a look-over. He knew all too well how scary it could be to have a stranger examining you so closely.

"Is Bean a clever creature? Like... the fish are?" He asked Shiloh, unsure of whether the little creature would appreciate being talked over, even if it was a bit timid for now. It wouldn't have been the first time he had underestimated the intelligence of something that didn't talk back, both the eldritch fish and othercats had caught him off guard the first time.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"I'm... not actually sure." Shiloh admitted as he looked down at Bean, the tiny sprout still playing peek-a-boo with Kaleb and Shiloh's fingers. Eventually it peeked out and stayed poised, still as a statue, before giving a tiny wave. "I mean, it doesn't talk? Sometimes I think it can understand me, but I think it's still a baby-whatever-thing too."

Bean looked up at Shiloh, but gave no outward communication or response to his words.

"Jamie thinks it might be related to my magic?" He pursed his lips thoughtfully, "But I have no idea. I sure as hell didn't make the executive decision to grow one of these or anything. He just appeared on my windowsill."

Bean made a soft sound, vaguely reminiscent of baby birds. A soft, whistle of a chirp.

"Anyway, what's up with you? Wander in on accident?"

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb felt a little more comfortable talking about 'it' in front of the little creature. It was acting like it had a vague grasp of human communication, and when it waved, Kaleb waved back.

"Even you still get surprised by magic stuff?" He asked, somewhat amazed at that little tidbit of information. Somewhere along the line Kaleb must have assumed it was only magical newbies who were still learning about their abilities, and by the time you had as much otherworld confidence as Shiloh did, you had figured everything out.

The freckled teen nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, I was on my way to the beach a couple minutes ago, but ended up here instead. I've been trying to make the best of things though, now that it's not quite so scary on this side. "

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"You kiddin'?" He laughed, "Of course I do. You never really get a concrete grasp on magic, I think. It always pulls the ******** rug out from under you." Shiloh gave Kaleb a wide grin, the shape lopsided, "So I just kinda stopped pretending I knew everything. Expect the unexpected, that whole shebang. I still get surprised though, yeah." He looked down at Bean and Bean looked back.

"This side is a lot better though, but that's just what I mean." He looked around, "It doesn't rain here anymore, not constantly. Everything's different." His brow scrunched up as he looked at the sky, "Magic's kinda too powerful, I feel like. People could misuse the s**t out of it..." When did he get so responsible? "But I guess all you can really do is work with it. We can still head over to the beach if you want? I haven't been down there in a while."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

It was rather reassuring, knowing you could find Shiloh's level of relative comfort without having to find all your conclusions first. Kaleb smiled.

"I don't need to go, I didn't mean to distract you if you were busy," he replied, not sure what he might have interrupted now that he thought about it. Maybe little Beans needed lots of experience with outside, like a new puppy or something, and Shiloh was very busy showing it... things.

"I wasn't really heading to the beach on this side, I think anywhere would be okay. I was... going to maybe practice... some magic things..." Kaleb admitted in a tiny voice. Even though they were friends, he wasn't used to volunteering information about what he might be working on, especially if it was something he wasn't so good at yet. Offering that tiny insight was a big expression of trust.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

He shook his head, "Not really bust, just dicking around." He scratched his nose, "Well, was showing Bean the Otherworld, but it's basically the same thing at this point. Huh little guy?" Bean made a peculiar chirping sound. Shiloh grinned for it. Positive reinforcement or something, right? He grinned even wider at Kaleb, "Honestly, that's one good thing about the Otherworld. There's a pretty good number of people who can access it, but it's nothing in the scheme of things. You run into people occasionally, but for the most part you can do anything anywhere."

His eyes lit up, "Well, not everything. Stuff you do on this side actually effects our side too, I found out." But he waved the thought away, "Not that practicing magic in the street would do anything, but if you were in someones room and you like, blew something up..."

He snorted, surprisingly amused all things considered, the implication laid bare. Bean also tried to mimic the snorting sound, but it was difficult when it had no nose to speak of. Then again it had no mouth, so the chirping thing was inexplicable. What a weird thing.

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

"I hopefully wouldn't blow anything up!" Kaleb insisted, slightly aghast at the thought. All this time, could he have accidentally damaged things by summoning magic the wrong way? He had only been trying to feel things, and work on that shield Jeremiah had shown him... But the shield was creating something out of nothing, what if it was created in an unstable way? What if it had effects elsewhere he wasn't aware of?

For once Kaleb began looking a little pale, no sign of the embarrassed and pink-cheeked blushing in evidence.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh gave Kaleb a slow look, "I mean, you probably won't." Did he say something wrong? Oh my god this was totally a Jamie moment, thank god he was equipped to prepare for sudden onset anxiety attacks—"Considering we're not going to be anywhere where we can ******** stuff up. It's okay! It's okay." He patted his friend on the shoulder, "It's better you know about it now, right? Rather than find out the hard way later? Now you can practice and like, be safe about it."

"If it makes you feel any better, I've been doin' this s**t since... since..." He squinted, "Almost a year now, and I haven't messed much up. C'mon, maybe the beach is a good place. It's wide and open and nothing'll get hurt there." He patted the shoulder again. Pat pat. Bean was nodding exuberantly. "See? Bean agrees. You can't say no to Bean."

Grey Dragon

 

[Grey Dragon]

Kaleb nodded, although the furrowed brow and tightness at the corners of his mouth clearly indicated lingering worries. Maybe enough shoulder pats would eventually pat the fears away.

"O-Okay. The beach," he agreed shakily. Bean was an appropriate distraction from his worries, because somehow the little creature was behaving as if it clearly understood the situation. The brief bubble of curiosity inserted itself into Kaleb's thoughts and gave him something less catastrophic to wonder about, was Bean truly in agreement that the beach was a good place, or had it merely learned to act that way in response to Shiloh's reassurances?

"Has it been to the beach?" Kaleb asked weakly. "I haven't yet, on this side at least..."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"The beach." He nodded. "Oh, Bean? Nah, it hasn't." Bean chirped in agreement, "He hasn't seen much outside Jamie 'n my's room." Good grammar, Beaumont. "I was hoping taking him here would give me more answers, but I think it's just gonna be an enigma forever."

Shiloh traversed the streets of Ashdown well enough, the beach stretching into view after some time. Shiloh didn't seem to mind the occasional lapses in silence as they walked though.

"I've only been here a few times, on this side." He explained, "Usually to see one of my friends, but it doesn't look like she's around... anyway, that's okay." He grinned at Kaleb, "Just means we got the whole place to ourselves."

Grey Dragon